|
Portage Invitational
October 10, 2009
Pioneer wins at Portage!
| Place |
Team |
Points |
| 1st |
Ann Arbor Pioneer |
72 |
| 2nd |
Pinckney |
118 |
| 3rd |
Huntington North |
176 |
| 4th |
Saline |
199 |
| 5th |
Bedford |
213 |
| 6th |
Rockford |
246 |
| 7th |
Monroe |
251 |
| 8th |
Northville |
287 |
| 9th |
Kenowa Hills |
376 |
| 10th |
Brighton |
377 |
41 teams competed in the Men's D1 Varsity race.
| Pioneer Varsity - Portage 2009 |
|
| (click to enlarge) |
Varsity
Highlights
It was a day of excitement, joy and celebration
as the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Men’s Cross Country team competed in the Portage Invitational, held in Portage,
Michigan. This is the event in which boys meet many of the competitors they will face at the State finals, so they came
out determined to perform well. Not only did the team win with a comfortable point spread over the competition, but the individual
winner of the Men’s Division I championship was Pioneer’s top varsity runner Nathan Karr; a terrific surprise
to many, and a huge inspiration for his team. The afternoon ended with a brief but merry birthday celebration for Coach
Sleeman.
The Pioneer men won first place in the Boy’s D1 division, with 72 points. Second, with 118
points was Pinckney High School, and Huntington North, IN came in third with 176 points.
The Portage Invitational
is held at a local middle school, and the course consists of two laps around the hilly campus. At the sound of the gun,
varsity teams from 41 schools pushed off to run a fast-paced 5000 meters. Beginning in a very wide pathway, the course
narrows as the boys start up hill. They go along the top slope of the hill, turn back and forth across the crest, then
wind into a wooded copse. When they emerge, the boys run along the tree line, then proceed behind the start to begin
the second lap. The Pioneers were out front early. Top spots traded off for the first loop, but after the second
mile, it was clear that Nate, Adam & Nick Kern, Andy Sanz-Guerrero and Muhammad Sani were going to finish really well.
Nathan posted a 5k time of 15:24.9, one of the fastest for this course, and less than a second off last year’s best
time, the speediest in 5 years for this course. Nathan improved his last best time by nearly 10 seconds. You continue
to amaze us, Nathan. Congratulations!!
Nick was out front for much of the race, running controlled and powerful,
but Adam passed him in the third mile. Adam finished eleventh overall in 15:52, looking smooth and confident.
Nick came in 17th in 16:12, and although plagued with a chest cold, was hardly daunted. What a lovely surprise witnessing
Muhammad Sani keep up with the top three Pioneers for the entire race, ending 19th overall in 16:15. Andy, strong and
consistent as ever, completed the run in 24th position overall, with a time of 16:23.
Joe Frakes and Sebastian
Ag both ran hard, determined to pass as many competitors as possible to bump up the other team’s scores. Joe was
clearly accelerating at the end, passing other runners to finish overall in 52nd place in 16:45. Sebastian later said
he wasn’t entirely pleased with his race, but he still came in 76th overall in 17:01. All seven varsity men contributed
to the exciting outcome at today’s meet. Well done! Click here for MLive report on the Portage Invitational. Click here for the Dyestat.com report.
Varsity Results
| Place |
Name |
Time |
New PR? |
| 1 |
Nathan Karr |
15:24.9 |
PR! -9.9s |
| 11 |
Adam Kern |
15:52.8 |
|
| 17 |
Nick Kern |
16:12.2 |
|
| 19 |
Muhammad Sani |
16:15.8 |
|
| 24 |
Andy Sanz-Guerrero |
16:23.1 |
|
| 52 |
Joe Frakes |
16:44.9 |
|
| 76 |
Sebastian Ag |
17:01.5 |
|
JV Highlights
The JV squad ran later in the day, and by that
time, the clouds covered the sun and the temperature was decidedly cooler. The boys lined up with over 400 other runners
and darted off with the pop of the starting gun. Seniors Bradley Baker, Niko Rombes, and Lucas Arias stayed out front
for the duration of the race. Working together, trading the lead, they supported each other as the race progressed.
Niko came in as the first Pioneer runner, in a time of 17:08, what a great race for Niko; he came in fifth overall.
Lucas Arias came next, in seventh place, at 17:19, followed closely by Bradley one second later. Another amazing
performance came from Ethan Warren, who looked as sleek and smooth as a swimmer to finish 19th overall in 17:35, lopping off
more than twenty seconds for a new personal record. Junior Noah Kaczor reduced his best time by 22 seconds, and brought
the Pioneers a 47th place finish. Great to see all these guys in the top 50, and a special congratulations to Niko,
Lucas, and Bradley for finishing in the top 10. Kudos!
Back at the tent after the race, many runners
commented on how cold they felt, with numb legs and tingly fingertips, They certainly looked composed during the run,
however. As seen in the chart below, it was a day of exciting performances by many of the Pioneers. Freshman Tyler
Leach continues to deliver, reducing his last best 5k time by 13 seconds. Jon Diep, John Fonte, Mike Sullivant, Saunders
Hayes all posted new best times. Nick Gottschlich, are you kidding me? Forty-five seconds? Nice. Freshmen
Boris Burman, Lee Criso, Nic Foster and Josh Sherick posted improvements on this challenging course. It is very exciting
to see their progress. Josh, almost a whole minute…wow! Bill Carras, 45 seconds, Dan Fonte, almost half
a minute! Exchange students Jurgen VanKatwijk and Dusan Hibela also improved their times, Dusan by stunning minute and
a half. Keep it up, fellows, and congratulations on your success.
JV Results
| Place |
Name |
Time |
New PR? |
| 5 |
Niko Rombes |
17:08.3 |
|
| 7 |
Lucas Arias |
17:19.4 |
|
| 8 |
Bradley Baker |
17:20.6 |
|
| 19 |
Ethan Warren |
17:35.6 |
PR! -21.8s |
| 47 |
Noah Kaczor |
17:53.2 |
PR! -22.8s |
| 56 |
Tyler Leach |
17:57.5 |
PR! -13.5s |
| 57 |
Jonathan Diep |
17:58.6 |
PR! -6.6s |
| 79 |
Carter Johnson |
18:16.8 |
|
| 90 |
John Fonte |
18:24.8 |
PR! -9.2s |
| 97 |
Nick Gottschlich |
18:30.4 |
PR! -45.2s |
| 98 |
Steve Merritt |
18:30.8 |
PR! -38.2s |
| 110 |
Boris Burman |
18:36.8 |
PR! -15.2s |
| 136 |
Michael Sullivant |
18:55.5 |
PR! -2.4s |
| 162 |
Colin Egerer |
19:06.5 |
|
| 173 |
Saunders Hayes |
19:14.8 |
PR! -27.3s |
| 199 |
Jack McWhinnie |
19:26.5 |
|
| 209 |
Lee Criso |
19:31.7 |
PR! -26.3s |
| 211 |
Ryan Goodwin |
19:31.9 |
|
| 219 |
Robert Frakes |
19:34.2 |
|
| 227 |
Nicolas Foster |
19:38.4 |
PR! -3.4s |
| 230 |
Eric Seitz |
19:40.0 |
PR! -37.0s |
| 273 |
Josh Sherick |
20:12.6 |
PR! -56.4s |
| 282 |
Ben Aukerman |
20:17.2 |
|
| 297 |
Zach Fogel |
20:35.7 |
|
| 316 |
Aaron Trierweiler |
21:02.2 |
|
| 324 |
Bill Carras |
21:17.3 |
PR! -44.3s |
| 325 |
Kevin Knight |
21:18.2 |
|
| 349 |
Dan Fonte |
21:49.1 |
PR! -26.9s |
| 379 |
Nick Tobin |
22:56.4 |
|
| 393 |
Jurgen VanKatwijk |
24:21.5 |
PR! -18.5s |
| 394 |
Dusan Hibela |
24:25.7 |
PR! -1:38.3 |
| 398 |
Stepan Chilingrian |
25:25.9 |
|
| 400 |
David Liu |
25:49.4 |
|
407 runners finished the Men's D1 JV race.
|
